Surround Setup for Sierra 2 as Front L/R

I have a pair of Sierra 2's and am eventually going to go for a 7.1.4 setup once my new home in finished. I'm also thinking of upgrading them to EX. The living room area is 20' x 17' with a 120" screen on the 20' wall. The ceiling is vaulted with beams.

I've been thinking of getting 8 HTM-200 SE for surrounds and heights, which would be $1,200‬.
There's also the option of getting 4 Lunas for surrounds and 4 HTM-200 SE for heights, which would be $2,900‬.

I don't know how the Luna's would compare as surrounds for an extra $1,700‬, as that's quite a bit of money just for surrounds if it's only a marginal improvement. I'm open to other speaker ideas too for heights if HTM-200 SE don't work well on the ceiling.

As far as the center goes, it would have to be placed under the 120" screen and angled up, so it wouldn't be at the same ear level as the left and rights. The Horizon's height is 11" while the Sierra 2 (on its side) is 7.5". I'm not sure if the Horizon would sound better in this setup.

Looking forward to feedback :)

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Originally Posted by hutt132

I have a pair of Sierra 2's and am eventually going to go for a 7.1.4 setup once my new home in finished. I'm also thinking of upgrading them to EX. The living room area is 20' x 17' with a 120" screen on the 20' wall. The ceiling is vaulted with beams.

I've been thinking of getting 8 HTM-200 SE for surrounds and heights, which would be $1,200‬.
There's also the option of getting 4 Lunas for surrounds and 4 HTM-200 SE for heights, which would be $2,900‬.

I don't know how the Luna's would compare as surrounds for an extra $1,700‬, as that's quite a bit of money just for surrounds if it's only a marginal improvement. I'm open to other speaker ideas too for heights if HTM-200 SE don't work well on the ceiling.

As far as the center goes, it would have to be placed under the 120" screen and angled up, so it wouldn't be at the same ear level as the left and rights. The Horizon's height is 11" while the Sierra 2 (on its side) is 7.5". I'm not sure if the Horizon would sound better in this setup.

Looking forward to feedback :)

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The Luna's will provide a near perfect blend with your Sierra-2 fronts and they also have much wider dispersion, which leads to a more spacious and immersive surround field. That said, if your budget is limited -- I think your money will be better spent going with the EX upgrade for your Sierra-2 and since your room is large, I would strongly recommend going with the Horizon center.

No concern at all about the slight differences in height between the Horizon and Sierra-2 tweeters. You will be sitting at a far enough distance away that these differences will not be audible.

Hope this helps!

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Originally Posted by davef

The Luna's will provide a near perfect blend with your Sierra-2 fronts and they also have much wider dispersion, which leads to a more spacious and immersive surround field. That said, if your budget is limited -- I think your money will be better spent going with the EX upgrade for your Sierra-2 and since your room is large, I would strongly recommend going with the Horizon center.

No concern at all about the slight differences in height between the Horizon and Sierra-2 tweeters. You will be sitting at a far enough distance away that these differences will not be audible.

Hope this helps!

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Hi Dave, what do you think about the Wavecrest HVL-1 vs HTM-200 SE as surrounds to match Sierra 2 EX (LR)? Sub would be crossed over at 80Hz. I already have a pair of HVL-1, and based on the graphs they seem to go lower, but reviews tend to agree that HTM-200 SE have a better tweeter.

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Originally Posted by hutt132

Hi Dave, what do you think about the Wavecrest HVL-1 vs HTM-200 SE as surrounds to match Sierra 2 EX (LR)? Sub would be crossed over at 80Hz. I already have a pair of HVL-1, and based on the graphs they seem to go lower, but reviews tend to agree that HTM-200 SE have a better tweeter.

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HTM-200's are the much better choice compared to the HVL-1 for use as surrounds with Sierra-2EX. HVL-1's are not timbre matched to any Ascend speakers.

I too have Sierra 2s as front speakers and am planning to expand to a 7.4 setup. I was thinking of going with Lunas for surrounds, but HTM 200’s for surround backs. This is another option to consider somewhere between the cost of the two options that you are considering. After getting my new Denon reciever with Audyssey Dynamic EQ, the surrounds are much more noticeable, where I think that the extra money for the Lunas would be worth it for me. The surround backs being behind my head and getting much less use, I feel like I could skimp on and not lose much, if anything at all.

I too am planning for a 120” screen, however since my theater room is in the basement I only have 7 foot ceilings. When I started working out how much distance would be left for a center channel speaker and I was kind of surprised. I too wanted to go with the Horizon, but it is just too tall. I can only fit the Sierra Duo LCR. Not sure if the Horizon a foot or so off of the ground would be that great.

Getting close to where I'm able to actually go through with a setup. I've decided I'll get the EX upgrade and the Horizon center, but I'm still not decided on the surrounds. Currently I have my sub crossover at 80Hz.

The HTM-200 freq response seems to start to roll off at 100Hz, and 100Hz-900Hz is 3db lower than the rest.
However, the HVL-1 has a more even response down to 70Hz.

Here are their freq responses overlaid. http://puu.sh/GKScS/a078eb419c.png
Green - HTM-200
White - HVL-1

1) Would you suggest setting the sub crossover from 80Hz to 100Hz for the HTM-200?
2) Would the dip in the midrange response be an issue for surround duty?
3) HVL-1 are not timber matched to the 2EX, but wouldn't that also be true for the HTM-200?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hutt132

Getting close to where I'm able to actually go through with a setup. I've decided I'll get the EX upgrade and the Horizon center, but I'm still not decided on the surrounds. Currently I have my sub crossover at 80Hz.

The HTM-200 freq response seems to start to roll off at 100Hz, and 100Hz-900Hz is 3db lower than the rest.
However, the HVL-1 has a more even response down to 70Hz.

Here are their freq responses overlaid. http://puu.sh/GKScS/a078eb419c.png
Green - HTM-200
White - HVL-1

1) Would you suggest setting the sub crossover from 80Hz to 100Hz for the HTM-200?
2) Would the dip in the midrange response be an issue for surround duty?
3) HVL-1 are not timber matched to the 2EX, but wouldn't that also be true for the HTM-200?

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HVL-1 are a ported speaker and by design, will have a deeper bass response compared to the HTM-200. however, the 200's have higher efficiency as well as wider dispersion. Wider dispersion is critical for surrounds so between the 2 speakers, I strongly recommend going with 200's for the surrounds. The 200's are also an Ascend speaker, with similar timbre to all of our models, while the HVL-1 are a more laid back, warmer speaker - with not quite the detail level in both the highs and mids.

For HTM-200, I recommend an 80Hz crossover.

Hope this helps!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hutt132

Getting close to where I'm able to actually go through with a setup. I've decided I'll get the EX upgrade and the Horizon center, but I'm still not decided on the surrounds. Currently I have my sub crossover at 80Hz.

The HTM-200 freq response seems to start to roll off at 100Hz, and 100Hz-900Hz is 3db lower than the rest.
However, the HVL-1 has a more even response down to 70Hz.

Here are their freq responses overlaid. http://puu.sh/GKScS/a078eb419c.png
Green - HTM-200
White - HVL-1

1) Would you suggest setting the sub crossover from 80Hz to 100Hz for the HTM-200?
2) Would the dip in the midrange response be an issue for surround duty?
3) HVL-1 are not timber matched to the 2EX, but wouldn't that also be true for the HTM-200?

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Dave suggests an 80Hz crossover. This is because anechoically, the speaker has a -3dB point at 74 Hz. Just bringing them into your room and putting them on speaker stands would also likely be fine with an 80Hz crossover, taking this into account. If you are wall mounting the HTM 200's then you should expect some boundary gain, which will help expending the roll-off a bit more, since you seem to be concerned.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by N Boros

Dave suggests an 80Hz crossover. This is because anechoically, the speaker has a -3dB point at 74 Hz. Just bringing them into your room and putting them on speaker stands would also likely be fine with an 80Hz crossover, taking this into account. If you are wall mounting the HTM 200's then you should expect some boundary gain, which will help expending the roll-off a bit more, since you seem to be concerned.

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I didn't think about boundary gain. I'll be insetting them into the walls 4", so they're be sticking out about 2".

I ended up getting 8 HTM-200 speakers.
Since they are rectangular, how should the Atmos height channels that are facing downward be rotated?

Are they rotated so they're perpendicular to the screen, parallel with it, or something else?
http://puu.sh/HqBgS/1023c87d41.png